Rochester Rotary, a member club of Rotary International, is sponsoring a senior from Rochester Adams High School in Rotary’s Youth Exchange Program for the 2014-2015 school year.

The Youth Exchange Program allows students from around the world to spend an entire year in a foreign country and focuses on full immersion into the culture and language of the host country.

Katie Schmidt, 16, from Rochester Hills, daughter of Dora and Chris Schmidt, recently departed for Germany as one of 65 students from the Ohio-Erie region of Rotary as part of the Youth Exchange Program.

Schmidt was selected from a group of area high school students who applied and interviewed for the chance to be hosted through the program. Schmidt listed Germany as her first choice due to family ties in the country.

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“Five generations ago, my family emigrated from northern Germany to the U.S., then my mom and my dad both worked and met there, and now I also have an aunt and uncle who live in Germany,” she said. “I wanted to be able to create my own ties to the country and have the opportunity to truly master the language and experience the culture.”

Schmidt will be spending the next year in the state of Hessen, and living in a small city called Bad Homburg, located in central Germany and approximately 25 minutes northeast of Frankfurt.

Through the program, Schmidt will be staying with host families that live in villages on the outskirts of the city. She will travel by bus and train every morning to get to school with the children of the host family, attending the same school and taking 13 classes, all in German. She will also attend 15 different orientations and trips through the Rotary club. In addition, Schmidt will be taking classical dance practice, a common sport for German females to participate in, and attending gatherings with other Youth Exchange Program participants.

According to Schmidt, her goals for the year are to be open to trying new things, to pass an official German fluency test and to learn more about the German culture and government.

“The school year is still ahead of me, but I am already so thankful for this opportunity,” Schmidt said. “I think what Rotary does is amazing; sponsoring students like me to go abroad for a year changes our lives in ways we wouldn’t imagine. I’m sure that my year in Germany will bring something great to my life and I’d like to thank the Rochester Rotary Club for giving me this opportunity.”